


Nothing

by Not_An_Alien



Series: Voltron Shorts [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Character Death, Gay Keith (Voltron), I'm Sorry, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-06-19 21:32:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15519009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Not_An_Alien/pseuds/Not_An_Alien
Summary: In a world where everyone is born with a single vague word on their arms describing their death, Lance worries about the word written on his arm-- 'Nothing.'





	Nothing

Lance stared down at his forearm where his death word was written in dark blue italics. "Nothing." Lance had no idea what that meant. He'd never worried about it much in the past, but in the past, he hadn't been in the middle of a space war.

Throughout his entire life, he'd seen people's death words make sense as people reached the ends of their lives. He remembered how his grandfather's word was "Sun" and how he'd died of skin cancer when Lance was eight.

He pulled the sleeve of his jacket back down and crept out of his room. It was the middle of the night and he didn't want to wake anyone. Especially not Allura. She was scary when she was tired. The kitchen was as empty as you would expect it to be at whatever time it was at night, but as Lance was filling a bowl with food goo, he heard a familiar voice from behind him.

"Lance?"

Lance turned to see Keith standing in the doorway of the kitchen. He was still wearing his usual black shirt, but his jeans had been replaced by red pajama pants and his feet were bare. He also had a legendary bed head. Lance held in his laughter as he saw how Keith's dark black hair flew out in every direction. He'd known the mullet couldn't do any good.

"G'morning, Keith," Lance said, still pouring goo into his bowl. "I like your hair."

Keith ignored his dumb comment. "It's two in the morning, Lance," Keith informed him. "Why are you up?"

"Okay, first of all," Lance said, "we are in space and time doesn't technically exist. Second, I was hungry."

"You ate a ton at dinner. You ate more than Hunk! There's no way you're hungry," Keith took a couple steps away from the doorway and towards Lance. "Are you feeling okay, Lance?"

To Lance's surprise, Keith actually looked like he was worried about him. Despite all the bickering and how mean Lance always was to him, Keith might have actually cared for Lance's well-being. Why? It's not like Lance was an important asset to the team. All he did was goof around and flirt with anything on two legs. And mermaids. So why was Keith asking if he of all people was okay?

"I'm fine, Keith," Lance said, turning off the good goo dispenser as the goo reached the top of the bowl. "I guess I'm a bit nervous."

"Well, seeing from the fact that we're in the middle of a space war, I'd say that's normal," Keith reassured.

The two stood in silence for a moment, neither knowing what else to say. Without thinking, Lance suddenly asked, "What's your arm say?" He instantly regretted asking. Normally, people wouldn't ask to see other people's death words unless they really cared for the person as a friend, family member, or...

Lance was surprised again when Keith willingly held out his arm for Lance to read. The first thing Lance noticed about Keith's word was that his font was a lot fancier than Lance's. How did that happen? That thought was quickly dismissed as Lance read the light red writing and understood why.

"Love?" Lance asked, and Keith nodded.

"I have no idea what it means," Keith admitted.

"Maybe you'll get shot through the heart with one of Cupid's arrows," Lance joked.

"I thought his arrows made you fall in love," Keith said.

"Oh, they do," Lance said. "But love can make you do crazy things."

Keith rolled his eyes and actually smiled. Lance rarely saw him smile. It was a nice change from his usual brooding. He had a good smile. "I still don't know what it means."

"Most people don't," Lance said. "I have zero clue what mine means."

"What's yours say?" Keith asked. Because Keith had shown Lance his, Lance figured it was probably fine for him to tell Keith what his said.

"Nothing," Lance said, and Keith looked confused.

"You mean it doesn't say anything?" Keith asked.

Lance blinked, processing the misunderstanding. "Oh, no, um," Lance rolled up his jacket sleeve again and showed Keith the inky blue writing.

"Oh," Keith said, looking down at Lance's arm. "That's, um, even more vague than mine is." He almost laughed at that.

"I have literally no idea what it means," Lance said. The two boys stood in silence for another moment before Keith cleared his throat, breaking the tension.

"I should probably get back to bed," Keith said, taking a step back. When had they gotten so close?

"Oh, uh, yeah," Lance stuttered. "Goodnight, Keith."

"Goodnight, Lance." Lance watched as Keith walked out of the kitchen, his hair still sticking out. He quickly devoured the food goo then rushed back to his room to get some rest.

 

"So, where are we?" Allura sighed as Lance strolled onto the bridge. He could tell by the look on her face that she'd already explained it numerous times.

"We are approaching a planet called Tisi. The inhabitants there have been enslaved by the Galra. Our job is to go and free them."

"So it's just like any other mission?" Lance asked.

"Actually, no," Allura turned to the screen behind her and pulled up a map of the area. "There's a mysterious cave system here that we know to be filled with Galra soldiers, weapons, and other miscellaneous technology. We'll have to go in there and neutralize the weapons if we want to have any chance of saving the planet's inhabitants."

"How dangerous exactly are these weapons?" Hunk asked from his seat towards the back of the room.

"That's just the thing," Allura said, sounding concerned. "We don't know. Our scanners are picking up readings we've never seen before. Chances are, there are some very dangerous weapons down there. That is why we need to neutralize them first."

"Alright team," Shiro said, walking over to stand next to the princess. "I want you all to split up to cover as much ground as possible before the Galra notice we're here." He turned and gestured towards the map Allura left up. "Pidge, I want you to take the northernmost tunnel. Hunk, the south. Keith, you take the eastern tunnel, and Lance, you take the west. I'll start in the middle tunnel. We'll meet back at the castle once we've taken out all the weapons in the base. Let's roll out."

Without another word, the paladins rushed to their lions, each flying out to their respective tunnels.

 

Lance left Blue hidden in a small cave inside the entrance of the tunnel. The tunnel quickly narrowed so there would be no getting her through.

Lance wandered cautiously through the dirt tunnel with his bayard already out and forming a gun. He hadn't seen any sign of anything dangerous yet. He hadn't even seen anything that proved that the Galra had been there.

"Hey, are you guys finding anything?" Lance heard Pidge ask over the comms. There was a bit of static, but he could still make out what she said.

"I haven't seen a thing so far," Lance answered, hoping she could hear him.

"According to the map, the northern and western tunnels are newer and don't have as much in them yet," Allura informed them. "It may take a while for you two to find anything. On the other hand, the rest of you should have found something by now."

"Keith?" Lance asked, wanting to know if he'd found anything. Why he asked Keith and not Hunk or Shiro was beyond him.

"I'm a bit busy right now, Lance," Keith's voice came through the comms along with some static. Lance could hear a battle going on in the background.

"You've been caught already?" Hunk asked, a touch of panic in his voice.

"They ambushed me," Keith protested, his voice still slightly smothered by the static. "I think they may have known we were coming. There's tons of them here!"

"Hurry up and get out of there!" Shiro practically screamed into the comms.

The comms were entirely silent as Lance rounded a corner. He hoped Keith was alright. He was an important member of the team and Lance even thought of him as close friend. Maybe even a little more. Despite their "rivalry," Lance didn't know what would happen if they lost him.

If he lost him.

Lance pushed that thought aside as he approached a small set of doors right as the dirt tunnels melted into the familiar greyish metal of the Galra bases. The doors slid open easily and Lance cautiously wandered into the dark room on the other side, his gun raised.

The room only had one source of light, which ever so happened to be the only thing in the room. Lance walked up to the small computer to check it out, thinking it probably couldn't be too important. Instead, he found a video feed of a planet that looked terrifyingly familiar.

Earth.

Why were the Galra monitoring Earth? We're they planning on doing something to it? Why was it so important for them to have live video feed of this specific planet by itself?

All his questions were answered as he watched a large Galra ship fly into the camera's range. It was much larger than any ship Lance had ever seen before. He froze, eyes wide, as the ship stopped in front of his home planet, giving Lance more questions to ask. What was it going to do? Invade it? Enslave the inhabitants? Steal all the cows like aliens did in movies?

Lance was about to tell the others about what he found when he noticed a few small purple lasers coming off of the ship together to form a small pyramid. Before Lance could process what was happening, he watched in shock as a much larger laser quickly flew off of the tip of the pyramid and into the center of the Earth, destroying it immediately.

Lance couldn't believe it. He felt tears fill his eyes as he slid to the floor, not believing a single thing he has just seen.

His home, his family, his planet, everything he'd ever known. It was all gone.

Earth had been destroyed.

 

 

 

 

 

"Lance?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Lance!"

Keith's voice woke Lance up from his shock. "I'm here," Lance said.

"Thank God," Keith said from over the comms. "I was afraid something had happened to you. I managed to shake off those Galra soldiers. There's probably more." He paused for a moment. "Did something happen to you?"

"Not to me," Lance said grimly as he slowly pushed himself off the ground.

"What do you mean?" Keith asked.

"I found a room," Lance explained, his voice shaking. "It had a live video feed of Earth."

"Had?" Lance heard Pidge ask.

Lance nodded, then remembered they couldn't see him. "Yeah. I saw a Galra ship approaching Earth. It was bigger than normal Galra ships. It was huge." Lance took a deep breath in order to keep himself from bursting out into tears again.

"What did it do?" Keith asked.

"It fired on Earth," Lance told them weakly. "Earth is gone."

The silence that fell over the comms was sickening. Nobody could believe either.

"My family," Lance heard Hunk say. Lance could tell he was crying.

"My mom," Pidge added, also crying.

"Adam," Shiro said quietly to himself. Lance had no idea who Adam was, but he must've been someone important for Shiro to immediately think of him.

Before anyone else could say anything, Allura's voice shouted over the comms. Lance could barely make out any of what she was saying, but she sounded like she was panicked.

"Galra-- Att-- eavy fire--------- Help!"

Without warning, a large explosion shook the ground beneath them. "Allura!" Shiro called over the comms. "Are you there? Coran! Allura!"

There was no answer.

"We need to keep moving, guys," Pidge said. She'd stopped crying, but Lance could hear the sobs lingering.

"We need to make sure Allura and Coran are okay!" Hunk argued.

"No," Pidge firmly said.

"What?" Lance asked, confused.

"They're gone," Pidge said.

"How do you know?" Keith asked.

Pidge sniffed. Lance could hear her start to cry again. "I ran out of the tunnel when Lance said Earth had been destroyed," Pidge explained between sobs. She wasn't the only one crying at this point. Lance could feel tears falling down his own cheeks as she spoke. "I had to get to the green lion. I- I saw the Galra ships destroy the castle."

Everyone fell silent again. Allura, Coran, and the castle were really gone. First the Earth, now the castle. They'd all been through so much for it to end like this. The one time Voltron failed to save someone, they'd failed to save those closest to them. The silence was interrupted when Shiro suddenly cried out.

"They found me!" Shiro cried. "There are dozens of Galra soldiers attacking me all at once! I can't take them on my own!"

"We're on our way!" Pidge announced, all signs of sadness and grief gone from her voice. The sobs had been replaced by determination. She wasn't going to loose another friend that day.

Lance pressed a button on the arm of his armor to find Shiro's location then ran through the hallways with his gun, taking down a few stray soldiers who spotted him as he ran.

Suddenly, he heard Hunk's scream from over the comm. "Hunk!" Pidge screamed. Lance had never heard a scream sound so heartbroken in his life. Knowing his friends were definitely in danger, Lance picked up his pace, navigating the tunnels with nothing but pure instinct.

"Keith! Lance!" Shiro called out to them over the comms. "Where are you? We need your help! Pidge and Hunk are down!"

"I'm almost there!" Lance answered and kept running. He couldn't let anyone else get hurt that day. He'd had one heartbreak too many in less than an hour. He couldn't afford another one.

He finally reached the large room where his friends were supposed to be fighting just in time to see a laser bullet pierce Shiro's chest armor, going through armor, suit, skin, muscle, and probably heart.

"No!" Lance screamed as Shiro collapsed. He ran in with his gun blazing, taking down as many soldiers as he could. He saw Pidge and Hunk laying on the ground roughly twenty feet to his right. He didn't need to check to know that they were dead.

Every soldier that he took down felt like one step closer to taking down the things that had killed his friends and family. His helmet was knocked off his head at one point, but he didn't care. He was completely blinded by rage and grief and wanted nothing but to slaughter every member of the Galra race with only one exception.

Lance turned to see a bullet aimed directly at his heart came rushing towards him and time seemed to slow down for just a moment. This was the end, Lance was sure of it. But before he could could process what was happening, Keith was in front of him, with his hands on Lance's shoulders to keep himself upright and a hole in his back where the bullet pierced his armor.

Lance stared in shock. Keith had just taken a bullet for him-- literally. Lance wanted to know why Keith had sacrificed himself for Lance when his life was much more precious. He could do so much more with his life than Lance could even imagine. So why was he throwing it away for him?

Lance stared into Keith's blue-grey eyes. There was no fear in them. No pain. Only an emotion that Lance couldn't explain.

"...Why?" Lance managed, not sure if Keith could even hear him.

Keith's lips curled into a small smile. "Because I love you, Lance." He said, then did something that surprised Lance even more than anything he'd done before.

He kissed him.

Lance had never been kissed before. Not on the lips anyway. Sure, he was a flirt, but he had never gotten anywhere farther than a cheesy pick-up line or two. What did actually bother him was that he knew this bittersweet kiss would be Keith's last and maybe even his first.

Lance barely had time to kiss Keith back before Keith's legs gave out and he fell to the ground, Lance still holding him.

Lance knew the Galra soldiers were closing in around him and he knew he was going to die, but that didn't matter to him. All that mattered was the boy he was cradling in his arms. The boy who had sacrificed himself so Lance could live a little bit longer. He loved him. Lance wished he had realized it earlier. Maybe if he had, it wouldn't have had to end like this.

Lance took one last look into Keith's eyes, knowing it would be the last time he ever saw them. They were glassy and lifeless, but Lance remembered the time when they were alive and all the emotions they had shown him. Anger, sadness, happiness, worry, love. All of it was gone now.

Lance would die there. There was no home. No family. No friends. No Keith.

Nothing.

**Author's Note:**

> I am so sorry. Please don't hate me.
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks to my friend for giving me the prompt for this story. I hope you guys enjoyed it even if it was really sad.
> 
> Have a good rest of your day (or night)!


End file.
